


World still ticking

by bbb136



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 16:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbb136/pseuds/bbb136
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He gets that he’s got this the wrong way round. Fucking around with the Lord of the Chinese Underworld is one of those crazy things you do only when there’s no future and you just don’t care anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	World still ticking

**Author's Note:**

> i like that i'm not the only one with a guilty obsession with this pairing. the fandom is but young but i feel it is my duty to contribute to it. *pushes fic towards fandom like that scene with the velociraptor eggs in jurassic park*

He gets that he’s got this the wrong way round. Fucking around with the Lord of the Chinese Underworld is one of those crazy things you do only when there’s no future and you just don’t care anymore. 

(Technically speaking he was fucking about with Hannibal Chau even when the world didn’t have a future but that was purely business and Kaiju brains so shut up Hermann, that didn’t count.)

But now the world isn’t ending. The humans have won and can go back to fighting each other, which according to what Newt’s been hearing has been pretty high priority for most countries. It’s all arguing other trade agreements at the moment but Newt has the intelligence to know someone’s going to send missiles at some point and then the world will have new, on-going war for politicians to argue about, located in a far away enough country that it’s not really a problem but people can still talk about it.

(See this is why he liked Kaiju better. They were beautiful creatures that had killed millions but they at least had been brutally upfront about their bad qualities.)

But the world isn’t ending and Newt is out of a job. Sort of. (His job was to stop the end of the world and he did succeed so it’s not like he’s been fired.) With the Breach sealed the Jaeger programme is officially closing for good and people are returning to whatever home they can find. He and Hermann don’t exactly have anything to do anymore. Hermann said they should be more happy about that than they were. (And they were happy, they both cried tears of joy when it was all over. Only, what now?)

They both go to wave off Mako and Rayleigh who leave on a cloudy morning via helicopter. 

Mako hugs him fiercely and tells him to stay in touch or else. Raleigh hugs him too, but it’s a bit awkward and Newt figures he’s just doing it because hey, the world isn’t being colonized by an alien race, hugs all round.

Hermann looks stony-faced as they fly away and Newt knows. He asks when the Englishman is leaving and they both come to an unspoken agreement to spend the remainder of Hermann’s days at the Shatterdome together. They get epically drunk one night and spend the other talking about stupid shit which they were never really able to do before. It’s nice, and while Newt wishes his friend luck with his new life he sort of wants to make up some bullshit excuse to make him to stay here with him so they can make this a regular thing.

“Try to get out of the lab sometime.” Hermann tells him gruffly and Newt doesn’t miss a beat before shooting back with “Dude you are such a pasty hypocrite!” 

They’re gripping each other tightly as they bicker.

Then Hermann leaves and its just Newt. 

Newt has options, many options in fact. Being a key influence in stopping the world from ending and also now the leading expert on Kaiju makes a lot of people want to hire you as it turns out. But fuck, teaching is for the old and boring. He wants to do some epic shit.

So yeah, Newt ends up fucking about with Hannibal Chau, who is in fact not dead, as Newt discovers when the man slams his drunken self up against the walls of the Shatterdome and demands his shoe back.

The only consolation is that after he cut his way out of a Kaiju stomach the man obviously decided to take a shower and get changed before coming here.

“You still got it, don’t ya?” Hannibal questions and even though Newt has had way too many shots at the World Isn’t Ending Yes Party to still be moving he nods and together they go to the lab, where Hannibal’s weird-ass gold shoe has been given a place of honour next to the Kaiju liver where Newt had dumped it because in all honesty he never thought he’d have to retrieve it for the owner.

Hannibal doesn’t seem too pissed though so Newt counts it as a win.

And then Hannibal fucks him over one of the lab tables and Newt isn’t quite sure how that happened but it’s totally awesome and he sure as hell is not complaining.

It’s not clear whether it’s was a one-time thing, an ‘I’m actually pissed about the shoe thing’, or a ‘hey the world didn’t end let’s fuck thing’, or even a ‘I basically run Hong Kong so I can do shit like this if I get the urge’ kind of thing. Hannibal runs his fingers through Newt’s hair and puts his glasses safely away on the table for him so they don’t break, while Newt himself falls asleep/passes out contentedly spread-eagled on the floor, not moving from where he collapses in a rush of pleasure.

(Hermann finds him the next morning exactly like that and it’s kind of awkward but whatever, totally worth it. Herrman’s seen worse shit in his brain anyway.)

When Hermann leaves Newt finds himself wandering back into Hong Kong because he’s bored and maybe Hannibal will let him look at some Kaiju parts if he begs – not like that. Maybe like that. Possibly. The world isn’t ending so Newt doesn’t really have a purpose anymore and since there are no more Kaiju, there are going to be less Kaiju parts to study. Newt has to get in there, for science. He’s not even lying, he’s glad the Breach is sealed and everything but there is a limited amount of Kaiju anything on the planet now and that makes him sad.

He can’t do anything else with the specimens he has back at the lab. Hannibal’s place is like a fucking toy store and he’s a kid who’s only ever had a few tiny chess pieces.

The slight problem with his plan is that aside from the fact he doesn’t really have one he’s also lost the card with the symbol on it and he doubts Hannibal gives enough of a shit about him to be the one to contact him first. It’s been radio silence since they fucked.

He ends up in a dingy bar after he gets sick of walking about lost in the pouring rain. Newt drinks sake and eats some vegetable thing he’s not sure that he likes but he doesn’t really care about the taste, it’s filling and cheap and dude it’s only been two days and he’s already missing Hermann nagging him. Newt is officially friend-whipped.

Newt then wakes up in Hannibal’s shop, in one of the wooden chairs tucked into the tables with all the magnificent specimens laid out on them. Hannibal’s workers are bustling around him and Newt stays sitting because there’s no room for him to actually get out even though his back really hurts, and he is really fucking confused right now.

“Urgh…” His brain feels woozy. Not like a hangover though, and he glares at Hannibal when the crime lord looks over at him from where he’s sorting some shit out with some really scary looking people.

“Dude, did you drug me?” Newt asks when he eventually comes over. 

“Not a problem is it?” Hannibal’s hands are in his pockets and if were not for the fact that he was wearing a suit that looked like it cost several gold bars to buy and the unnoticeable aura of a guy who could make you disappear no problem, he’d look pretty casual. Just like any regular gigantic man with biceps bigger than your head.

Newt looks down at himself. “You didn’t even do shit. You just dumped me in this chair.” 

“I’m a busy man, got no time to fuck Kaiju groupies,” Hannibal ignores his annoyed interjection of ‘I am a fucking scientist’. “Well done. You saved the world. And now there are no more Kaiju coming through, this stuff’s worth its weight in goddamn diamonds.” He gestures to the tank occupying the table in front of them, full of what Newt sluggishly identifies as the tiny scales that covered Kaiju toes. “Clock is ticking and I intend to make a shit ton of money before we hit noon.”

“What does that even mean…” 

“It means no you can’t have any Kaiju parts and no, not even if you get down on your knees and suck my dick.”

“Harsh.” Newt leans his head over the back of the chair and stares straight up at Hannibal. “Can I study them then?”

Hannibal raises an eyebrow behind his black glasses. “You want to suck my dick so you can study this shit?”

“I was thinking more I’ll suck your dick and you let me study these beautiful specimens so I don’t feel like I’m whoring myself out for science.” It’s a testament to how good whatever the fuck drugs he’s on that Newt has no problem having this conversation in a room full of people. 

Hannibal chuckles and walks off without answering. But later when Newt’s regained use of his legs Hannibal makes him suck him off in a back room so he figures they have an understanding.

Over the next few weeks Newt learns stuff about the Kaiju that he had never even dreamed about (because he did actually do that sometimes) and his days are spent scribbling notes down and crowing about his discoveries to Hannibal or Hannibal’s gang, whoever was there. (The latter of which he figures were on orders not to kill him because he suspects that he was starting to piss them off big time.)

He isn’t allowed to take any Kaiju parts back to the Shatterdome because they’re worth so much money so he only goes back there to sleep on the odd night that Hannibal isn’t fucking him. Newt isn’t really bothered about it. While the Shatterdome has always felt large it has never felt quite so empty before. It’s going to be shut down completely soon and Newt starts looking for a new apartment in the city. He has money now, might as well spend it.

The sex is of course totally awesome.

Hannibal has never once been gentle but that’s not how Newt likes it. Newt has had Hannibal’s teeth marks and fingerprints on his skin for so long and he can’t remember what his body looked like without them. He doesn’t particularly want to.

'I really did not need to know that.'

“C’mon Hermann, we’ve been in each other’s heads and we’ve seen each other’s weird stuff, can’t I tell you what I’ve been doing since you skipped off back to jolly old England?”

The phone line crackles as Hermann grouses. 'I do not need to know your detailed study of any Kaiju remains. It was disgusting before, it’s unnecessary now.'

“But the Skin-Lice…" Newt begins and Hermann yells at him.

Newt doesn’t tell Hermann about the whole having sex with the Lord of the Chinese Underworld thing the first time they talk to each other. And in the second phone call Hermann is busy ranting about some idiots in the English scientific community that Newt can’t get a word in edgewise. 

But the third time it’s Hermann who calls him and Newt nearly spits out his coffee when he answers his phone and the first thing Hermann says is 'Are you sleeping with Hannibal Chau to get access to his Kaiju remains?'

“Dude! No!”

'Ah.' Hermann sounds relieved.

"I am fucking him and getting access to his Kaiju samples." Hermann makes a choked noise down the phone and Newt hisses “Subtle but important distinction!” before his friend can stutter out a reply. “Where did you even hear that from?”

'I- I…'

“Dude...” Newt whines.

'I- I didn’t hear it from anyone, I worked it out. He, it was him that night we won – that god awful shoe was missing. How else would you be able to get access?'

“I am both flattered that you think I’m that pretty and offended that you think I would whore myself out for Kaiju samples. What sort of friend are you?”

'Well how did you get access then?'

Newt makes a face.

“Fuck if I know.” He answers truthfully.

The thing is, before the Breach was sealed and the world was saved there is no fucking way that Newt would ever have considered hanging around Hannibal Chau any longer than he had to. You couldn’t pay him to do it. The man was dangerous and it didn’t take a genius to know it. But now Newt finds that he just doesn’t care about the risks because what the fuck is at stake?

It should be the other way round he knows. The world is ending so you stop giving a damn because why should you, but Newt really did give a damn, he fought to save humanity and Drifted with fucking Kaiju brains which was awesome but not advised. And now that he has a future ahead of him he should care about what he’s doing with his life but he just doesn’t. 

Hermann has never shared his obsession with the Kaiju so he doesn’t understand.

Hannibal gets it though. Hannibal doesn’t give a shit about the Kaiju but he does give a shit about money. As it turns out money will always be important to people no matter if the world’s about to be destroyed by giant aliens. 

Newt wonders if Hannibal gives a shit about him. Newt knows Hannibal likes him, not because he keeps fucking him but because he does stuff like let him sit and tell him things he’d found out about the Kaiju over takeout. But liking someone because they amuse you and giving a shit about someone else’s amusement are two very different things.

Then about three months after the Breach is sealed Newt is walking the stalls in the market place, looking for something he can send to Mako for a birthday present when someone tries to stick a knife into his back.

Newt feels the pressure tease the back of his jacket before it is whipped away. He turns, startled, just in time to see a lean and wiry man trap another wearing a head mask in a choke hold. His attacker struggles but drops the knife when a bald headed woman melts out of the crowd and presses an ornamented dagger against his throat warningly. She whispers something sinister in Chinese to him before turning to Newt.

It’s the same woman who Newt’s seen working with Hannibal – the lack of hair is pretty distinctive. Newt doesn’t recognise the lean and wiry man but he’s obviously on their side so no biggie. There are more important things to consider like –

“Oh my god you tried to stab me.” 

“Assassin from another gang.” The woman explains in lightly accented English. “We will deal with him.”

“You tried to stab me.” Newt says again because what the hell? 

“It was a message from this up coming mobster.” Hannibal tells him later when they’re lying in bed together. “The bastard’s dead – or he’s on his way out. I didn’t take him seriously when he first started throwing his weight around, didn’t think the guy had any brains.”

Newt only hums in response, still worn out from their fucking. 

Now that Newt’s established that some of Hannibal’s goonies follow him whenever he goes out he makes a point to try and spot them. Now that’s he actively looking he can usually spot one sort of familiar face lingering a few yards behind. He wonders how long this arrangement has been going on. Hannibal laughs at him when he asks so Newt figures a while.

He’s used to the general public giving him a wide birth, especially when he’s with Hannibal, and Newt always put that down to the danger of association. And yeah, he likes this thing he has on with Hannibal, he likes the sex and he really likes being able to study all the Kaiju pieces he wants. He’s planning on writing a paper detailing his findings soon, only now he’s not sure if he’s going to be able to do that.

Because Hannibal Chau is a lot of things but one thing he definitely is not is a nice guy.

The assassination attempt felt like a wake-up call and suddenly Newt appreciates that fucking around with the Lord of the Chinese Underworld has a lot of strings attached. He’s not scared of Hannibal’s enemies (although holy shit one tried to kill him) or anything along those lines. Newt is worried about Hannibal himself, the ruthless murdering son of bitch who tolerates no shit.

As in if Newt decides that he wants to leave Hong Kong, would Hannibal let him?

He doesn’t dare ask, but he thinks he knows the answer when a week later Hannibal breaks the jaw of the customer who slapped Newt’s ass as he passes by.

“You come into my house, at my invitation and try and pull shit like that in front of me?” Hannibal walks a steady circle around the man now crying in pain, crumpled on the floor. He sounds like a villain from a bad gangster movie but Newt doesn’t find the similarity funny.

“I think I got in too deep.” Newt confesses to Hermann that same day.

'… Newton? What are you – what…' Hermann was obviously fast asleep when Newt rang and fuck, he forgot about time zones. 

Newt holds the cell phone closer to his ear as he listens to his friend’s confused grumbling, smiling because he hasn’t talked to his friend in over a month and he finds that he misses his voice. Newt stops smiling when he realises he’s only called Mako once since she left and he forgot to get her a present. He’s missed her birthday now. 

She’s been calling every two weeks or so without fail. Hermann rings him more frequently. Newt has always been too busy either with Hannibal or the Kaiju to answer or return their calls.

Newt stills as he realises that without knowing it his world has shrunk to revolve around one guy and the remains of an alien species. 

He jumps when the phone is plucked out of his hands and Hannibal raises an eyebrow at the screen before ending the call. 

“Coming to bed?” Hannibal asks him, voice deceptively light and Newt nods automatically. 

He can’t find his phone when he wakes up. But he thinks of the preserved Kaiju eye that’s waiting for him in what’s become his makeshift lab, and he think of Hannibal, Hannibal who whispers heated things into his ear when he fucks him, Hannibal who lets him geek out and doesn’t tell him to shut up too often, Hannibal who doesn’t tell him he should be teaching the younger generations or what to do at all really, and Newt doesn’t know if he cares.


End file.
